Annual Report 2024

President and CEO's review

2024 was a year of renewal and planning for the future. Metropolia's strategy was updated and the objectives and indicators for the next four-year period were agreed with the Ministry of Education and Culture. As part of this work for the future, we also reformed our organization and set growth targets to support the implementation of the strategy.

Metropolia's success is not only based on our own strategy, but we will also focus more and more on influencing higher education policy themes in the future. Key societal issues for Metropolia include solving the future shortage of skilled workers, developing and funding the education system as well as making use of international networks and EU funding opportunities. We want to play an active role and present solutions from Metropolia and the universities of applied sciences to the challenges of sustainable growth for the whole of Finland.

Metropolia's internationalization continues at a rapid pace. We have a unique vantage point, as we are the only Finnish higher education institution to act as the main coordinator of a European university alliance. Metropolia coordinates the U!REKA European University Alliance that was launched in 2024. We have also increased the number of courses offered in English and launched an internship programme for international students. In 2024, the number of international students paying tuition fees doubled compared to the previous year.

The continuous renewal of skills and expertise is a very important theme and value for us. In 2024, staff development focused on digitalization, artificial intelligence, sustainability, internationalization as well as leadership and supervisory skills. During the year, numerous workshops, training and coaching sessions were organized around these themes.

It is wonderful to take a moment to celebrate our achievements from the past year. A big thank you to our staff, students, and stakeholders for the year 2024. From here, we can continue our work by boldly reforming expertise and building a sustainable future.

Riitta Konkola
President and CEO

Review of the Chairman of the Board of Directors

Finland needs new skills, experts, sustainable growth, and optimism. As the largest university of applied sciences in Finland, Metropolia is an excellent breeding ground for all of these. Our impact and development are driven by Metropolia's strategic themes – we are a reformer of lifelong learning, a driver of phenomenon-based solutions, a builder of sustainable development and growth, a forerunner of digital transformation as well as an open and inclusive Metropolia in our operating principles.

Metropolia's growth strategy will significantly guide Metropolia's development in the coming years, setting research, development, and innovation (RDI), business, and continuous learning growth targets until 2030. In RDI activities, the goal is to increase the amount and impact of RDI conducted by Metropolia together with its partners and to especially focus on building international RDI networks. The lifelong learning growth strategy will renew skills and learning solutions to meet the needs of the increasingly diverse metropolitan area. The goal of paid business activities is to enable Metropolia's financial stability by expanding Metropolia's revenue base.

From an economic perspective, we can look back on a very successful year 2024. Metropolia's turnover was 134.6 million euros, growing by 10.5% from the previous year. The financial result for the fiscal year was 9.5 million euros in profit, and the adjusted result was 3.7 million euros. The adjusted result takes into account the income paid in advance by the Ministry of Education and Culture for the year 2024. The equity ratio was 75.8%, and solvency remained good. It is good to build future success on the achievements of the previous year.

On behalf of Metropolia's Board of Directors, I would like to thank our students, staff, owners, stakeholders, and partners for the successes and good cooperation during the past fiscal year. I look forward to the future with great enthusiasm and confidence: the future belongs to those who dare to innovate.

Ilona Lundström
Chairman of the Board of Directors

The year 2024 in numbers

Turnover totalled EUR 134.6 million, up by 10.5 % on the year before. At the end of the year 2024 there were 1145 permanent staff members. Metropolia concentrates its operations on four campuses: Arabia and Myllypuro Campuses in Helsinki, Karamalmi Campus in Espoo and Myyrmäki Campus in Vantaa.

In year 2024 there were 85 degree programs in the fields of Business, Culture, Health Care and Social Services and Technology. 24 degree programs were held in English. 2 819 students completed a UAS Bachelor's degree and 610 students completed a UAS Master's degree.

The Metropolia.fi website had around 1.7 million visits during the year 2024. The number of visits to the site has increased significantly since 2022, when there were around 1 million visits. At the end of the year 2024 there were 57 100 followers on Linkedin (2023: 53 000, 2022: 47 200 followers).

Metropolia´s operations and expertise is shown in our publications. They convey the results of our RDI work, which have applicability and use in working life as well as education. In 2024 950 publications (2023: 1,058 and 2022: 835) were produced.

Metropolia's research, development and innovation (RDI) is growing and developing

Services, procedures, methods and products are developed and renewed in collaborative innovation projects between Metropolia's business partners and students. The concept of Metropolia Minno® innovation projects has been successfully developed and implemented for several years. In January 2024, the Metropolia Minno® Innovation Project was rewarded with international recognition from the World Economic Forum.

Metropolia's collaboration platforms are continuously being developed. The platforms allow for experimentation, testing and piloting. In January 2024, a new collaboration platform Carbon Garage was opened on the Myyrmäki campus. The cooperation projects support companies in promoting green business models, ensure future environmental expertise and promote the adoption of new sustainable business models and technologies. Metropolia's partners in the Garbon Garage are VTT and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

Metropolia's three phenomenon-based innovation hubs address global challenges through RDI. At the end of 2024, Metropolia's Board approved a new RDI growth strategy: By 2030, Metropolia aims to be among the top five Finnish universities of applied sciences in terms of the amount of external RDI funding repatriated.

In 2024, the turnover of Metropolia's RDI activities was EUR 12.6 million and at the end of the year there were 76 ongoing RDI projects. External RDI funding amounted to EUR 6.0 million, with more than half of the projects funded by the European Union.

Personnel

At the end of the year 2024 there were 1145 permanent staff members (2023: 1054, 2022: 1011). The average age of the staff has slightly decreased in recent years. At the end of 2024 the average age of the staff was 48 years.

63 % or the staff are women and 37 % are men. Our HR system also allows one to report their gender as “other”, but this share is so small at the moment that it is not visible on the graph. 61 % of our supervisors were women.

The level of staff training is high. In 2024, 65% of full-time staff will have at least a Master's degree. 22% of teachers had a doctorate.

In 2024, the well-being of staff has been monitored and promoted in various ways. The status of staff well-being is monitored annually with the People Power employee survey. The overall index of the survey paints a general picture of staff views on management, commitment, performance and dedication. Metropolia's overall index was 66,9 (2023: 65,6, 2022: 65,6).